How do you organize your files and folders?

Dmitry

Howdy friends! Michał Tosza started a very interesting thread on Twitter about best practices to organize your file/folder structure so you could work more efficiently.

Here it is:

I already shared my tips:

I'm curious to learn more about your process! Feel free to share it in the comments below or join the discussion on twitter (but don't forget to share it here as well)

faithmcgregor85

Project Due Date > Client's Name > Materials
once it's completed, I sort it by Month. In the end of every year I label all tasks as a Completed Year and assemble them. It seems like it can't be more complicated but that's my comfort zone
Hard copies of my work are in better shape, though. Since I have a lot of paperwork, I use the same system and solve the problem of labeling with Rhino label tapes so I'm always well-organized this way
i'm old school like that

Dmitry

faithmcgregor85 Interesting approach! I always thought that client name should always come first and then due date, month, etc. Unlike you, though, I don't print hard copies, trying to save more trees this way Too bad I can't do this for my expenses and taxes. Hopefully one day we'll live in a paper-free world

annagiuliam

Baccs does it for me (TO3000 had the same approach): it creates all projects in the same big "Projects" folder.
The project folder is named as follows: project code_client code_project name
Each project folder contains 3 standard folders:
admin: PO, instructions, questions, etc.
source: source files, trados source package, etc.
target: trados project, translated files.

I use the filters in Baccs to search and retrieve the information I want (projects completed last month, projects to be invoiced, etc.).

alyonaxl8

I have folders with clients' names which I save all respective project files in, usually without any subfolders. I don't need them to be sorted by date or by project. All my TMs are stored in a different folder 'cause I don't usually create a special TM/glossary for a client or a project, most of them are field-related, like "Contracts" or "Financial accounting".

Dmitry

alyonaxl8 Interesting! So you don't have any Source/Target sub-folders in your client folders? How do you sort files to make sure you send the translated file and not the original file? Do you add language code at the end of the file name or something?

I noticed that for some of my clients there's just so much recurring work, that I need to have a folder for each and every project to keep my from getting lost

alyonaxl8

Dmitry So you don't have any Source/Target sub-folders in your client folders?

Very few. It would only complicate things for me. I only create a special subfolder if there are like too many files for 1 project (I don't have a definition of "too many" here. I just get them in an individual folder if I feel like they're visually cluttering the main folder?). And I have 2 subfolders in one agency f. for 2 of their clients whose documents I translate often.

Dmitry How do you sort files to make sure you send the translated file and not the original file?

I add _RUS at the end of the file name, yes. And I sort my files by date so they look like this in the folder:
XXX_Terms_and_Conditions_RUS.docx
XXX_Terms_and_Conditions.docx
XXX_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf
See? I have three files: the original .pdf, the converted .docx, and the translation. And I can tell the date I received the order and the date I sent the translation out - by the date of a file. Although I store all information about my projects in Protemos so I don't really need to look at those dates.

Dmitry I noticed that for some of my clients there's just so much recurring work, that I need to have a folder for each and every project to keep my from getting lost

See, I just don't need old files to work on a project because TMs, you know. I deal with words only, word documents mostly, no pictures or videos or idk games, whatever you game translators include in your project files And when I (rarely) need to find certain documents, I use the search function, it's great in Mac OS, searches not only titles but inside the files, too.

JaneD

Mine go Client name > Project reference, and in there I may have a reference folder but more likely the files to be translated loose alongside the various folders that Trados creates (in a folder named, obviously, Trados!)

Every now and then I archive project folders for each client in a folder named Delivered. And every now and then I archive the stuff in Delivered to a separate hard drive (all of this already gets backed up every night anyway).

I can't imagine how you'd ever find anything if you sorted it by date. I can never remember when I've done a particular assignment. And some of my clients don't even use project references, so I have to make up a reference. But each to their own, and whatever works for you is obviously best!

What I'd really like is for SDL to extend this particular notion to Trados so that it remembers how I format my client folders and always looks for the source file in the right place (i.e. one level up from the Trados project folder). You wouldn't think that'd be hard to achieve!

erikasbat

It's very simple. The folders are inside my general folder "translation", which also contains my administrative files, reference material, voluntary translations, etc. It contains a folder named "Clients". Inside it, there are folders with a sequential number (by date of the first contact) and the name of every client, which contain subfolders according to the language pairings of the works. If I have done several works for one client, they might as well be separated by kind of work (translation or proofreading), by project, or some other separation demanded by the client.

Fadi

Very interesting and creative ways of organizing files. I have learned a lot reading all you guys.
When I started out as a freelance translator, I never taught it necessary to organize my files. Well, I was simply lazy. Hey, I started feeling the need for it when I had to translate similar files from different clients. I find myself doing the same job over and over again. It sucked!

Now, this is how I go about it.
On my desktop, I have two folders for my translation jobs. One folder for agencies named My_agency name_Projects and another folder with sub-folders for direct clients named "Client_Name.
Once the project is completed and delivered, I always rename the file adding the type of text. E.g Birth Certi_ or any expression that briefly describes the content of the project. That helps to quickly refer to the file whenever I need it.

Roisin1976

I have one big folder called Translation on Desktop of my PC with subfolders of years and companies.

Kit_germanloc

Up until now, I had a separate folder for each client, but your folder structure has me intrigued, @Dmitry . I think I'll give it a try, as it would make deleting projects which are older than 6 months really helpful. My TMs are stored in the standard SDL folder anyway, so they wouldn't be touched by this. Thanks for sharing!